Grenke Chess Classic to have elite lineup

1/9/2015 – The Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee finishes on January 25th, but in case you wondered how long until the next elite tournament, the answer is: exactly one week! From February 2-9, eight top players including Carlsen, Caruana, Anand, Aronian, Adams, Bacrot, Naiditsch, and Baramidze will play in Germany, in Baden-Baden at the Grenke Chess Classic. Press release.

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Press Release

GRENKE Chess Classic 2015

The Baden-Baden Chess Centre (Schachzentrum Baden-Baden) invites you to the GRENKE Chess Classic 2015, an elite grandmaster tournament. The organisers are delighted to have brought together an exclusive line-up, headed by World Champion Magnus Carlsen and 2013 Champion Viswanathan Anand. This is the third edition of the GRENKE Chess Classic, which was also held in 2013 and 2014.

In the 2000s OSG Baden-Baden grew to be the most successful chess club in Germany, and the establishment of the Chess Centre in Baden-Baden in 1996 was a successful step towards putting the city on the European chess map. The organization of the GRENKE Chess Classic builds on the tradition of the famous chess tournaments that were held in the spa resort in the last two centuries.

This year’s edition has achieved a rating average of 2752 (1st January 2015), making it a stellar Category 21 tournament. That already makes it the second strongest tournament ever held in Germany, though there’s still time to become the strongest when the February rating list is published. The Baden-Baden Chess Centre’s partners are GRENKELEASING AG and the Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa.

The following eight grandmasters will participate in the GRENKE Chess Classic 2015, playing each other once over seven rounds:

Magnus Carlsen

Fabiano Caruana

Vishy Anand

Levon Aronian

World Champion (2862)
Norway

World no.2 (2820)
Italy

World no.5 (2797)
India

World no.6 (2797)
Armenia

Michael Adams

Etienne Bacrot

Arkadij Naiditsch

David Baramidze

World no.17 (2738)
England

World no.39 (2711)
France

World no.49 (2694)
Germany

World no.236 (2594)
Germany

The tournament will be played from 2-9 February 2015 in the historic rooms of the Kulturhaus LA8 in the very centre of Baden-Baden – the same location where OSG Baden-Baden plays its home matches in the Bundesliga. Rounds begin each day at 15:00, with a single rest day on Thursday 5 February.

See also

8/13/2018 – Every year, the TC RW Baden-Baden, one of the most traditional tennis clubs in Germany, and the Chess Center Baden-Baden organize a combined chess / tennis tournament. This year it was advertised for the first time as a World Championship. Four grandmasters took part and the new Chess Tennis World Champion is Laurent Fressinet. | Photos: Thomas Marschner

See also

5/24/2018 – Today in Baden-Baden the match is held for the German League Championship 2018. The team of OSG Baden-Baden meets SG Solingen in a tiebreak match after both teams were tied through fifteen regulation rounds. Baden-Baden is very strong, as usual, led by Fabiano Caruana, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Viswanathan Anand, but Solingen has brought in world number nine Anish Giri to play top board.

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

Discuss

The tournament of the A's, B's and C's - only Naiditsch is different with an "N"

Steven E DuCharm 1/11/2015 12:09

Go Go David!

Jose Cintron 1/10/2015 10:33

Do you remember when Kasparov, as an unrated player, replaced Korchnoi in 1979 and won the tournament? You never know

idratherplay960 1/10/2015 07:41

nah, it's good for the top guys to prove their superiority over "ordinary" gms in closed events every once in awhile

KevinC 1/10/2015 02:19

"This year’s edition has achieved a rating average of 2752 (1st January 2015), making it a stellar Category 21 tournament. That already makes it the second strongest tournament ever held in Germany, though there’s still time to become the strongest when the February rating list is published."

Or they could dump the guy, who is the winner of "which of these things is not like the others". 236th in the world?